A Perfect Mess

The Prizefighters are a Midwest rocksteady force to be reckoned with, and I have no problem saying they are leaders in their genre right now as a still fairly young band. I first heard them in the infancy of this blog when I reviewed their record Follow My Sound back in 2012. Not long after that, this blog went on a hiatus for a couple years while this band continued to build their mastery of the ska and rocksteady sound. This is no exaggeration. The Prizefighters have been a backing band for respected legends like Derrick Morgan, Stranger Cole and Patsy Todd , Roy Panton and Yvonne Harrison , just to name a few. They have teamed up with legendary harmonica player and vocalist Charlie Organaire on a trio of 45rpm singles (released on Jump Up! Records) and a European tour. When it comes to an American band injecting real authenticity into a Jamaican sound, the Prizefighters have done more than their share of homework. They present this respectfully and as authentically as p

I love a good local show. Local shows are a treat for me where I live in NJ. You see, usually we have to trek into New York City for shows and that requires an astronomical toll, parking which can also be pricy, and a commute that from where we live is a good 40 minutes WITHOUT traffic. Traffic is a way of life. This is New Jersey, after all. To make matters even more complicated though, I live in rural NJ – Sussex County, to be exact. We don’t have too many venues in my corner, so when we actually get a great band to come through, it’s a must that you get your booty there for some shaking. This is especially true if that band is Kung Fu . The last time the guys blessed us with their funky presence was on their Fez tour and I had to miss it. Balls. So there was really just no way in hell that was happening this time. I would have paid all my dollars and probably an internal organ to be there. Thankfully neither was necessary on this random winter Thursday, and we made our way to